Optical resonant scanners of various types are known but are in general not suitable for use in applications such as a head mounted display system that requires the scanners to be very small so that they may be comfortably supported on a user's head. Scanners used in such systems must also be operable at a high frequency of resonance such as 20 khz. One type of known optical resonant scanner includes moving magnets as part of an electro-magnetic circuit for oscillating a scanning mirror. However, because the magnets move, these scanners have a higher rotational inertia than desirable making it difficult to attain a sufficiently high resonant frequency for many applications.